The U.S. Supreme Court ruling Tuesday that effectively rendered the Voting Rights Act of 1965 meaningless at the moment has been viewed as a major moment for African Americans, for the American South, and for the balance of power between states and the federal government.

It could also have been an interesting moment for New Hampshire.

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While most attention will turn to the nine states that still had oversight of voting and voting laws by the federal government, it might surprise some that until three months ago, overwhelmingly white -- and very abolitionist -- New Hampshire was also regulated under the act.

The 5-4 ruling struck down a key section of the law setting up requirements for what states needed oversight. With the requirements gone, the areas under federal oversight was also gone.

Nine full states -- Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia -- had to receive "preclearance" by the federal government. So did portions of seven other states, including New Hampshire.

In the 1968 election, 10 New Hampshire communities did not meet the 50 percent voter turnout mark and the state even had a rarely enforced literacy test. Then in March, after proving that there was at least a decade without major problems, New Hampshire was "bailed out" from the oversight of the Department of Justice.

Had New Hampshire not been "bailed out" this spring, this ruling would have been a much bigger story locally.